World of Warcraft, the venerable massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is running a charity campaign between now and the end of the year. Players who adopt the virtual pet Brightpaw will also be donating to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Make-A-Wish works to grant the wishes of children diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions. (An example that many of us probably heard about was Batkid. The city of San Francisco came together to make Miles Scott’s wish to become a superhero come true via pretend crime scenarios, a meeting with the mayor, and even newspaper headlines.)
Brightpaw is a World of Warcraft pet—in other words, a very cute but largely aesthetic addition to a game character’s inventory. Pets can battle one another for special rewards, but they mostly just follow players’ avatars around. Players will be able to adopt Brightpaw for $10.00, and she’ll be accessible by all characters on any one BattleNet account.
All of the proceeds (yes, 100%) from the “adoption” will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Do check out the trailer for Brightpaw. If you’ve ever watched cat videos on the internet (are there people who haven’t?) you’ll like it.